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Best kept secret at Prairie Ridge Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,004
Middle
DISTRICT 935 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ANKENY COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190369002139
Prairie Ridge Middle School
1010 NW Prairie Ridge Dr, Ankeny, IA 50023 · (515) 965-9705 · Polk County
GRADES 06–07MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,004 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 66% of Iowa public middle schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Iowa public middle schools
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
67 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
18%
177 students
DISTRICT 22% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 519 | 52% |
| Grade 7 | 485 | 48% |
Student demographics
33%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 41% · STATE 48% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
84.9%
IA avg 73.6% . -2.5pp since 2023
Math
82.1%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 85 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 82 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores are down about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 84.9% | 82.1% |
| 2023-24 | 87.4% | 79.9% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
83.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
83.1%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 84% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 83% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Iowa's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Prairie Ridge Middle School
Prairie Ridge Middle School's state test result (83.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Ridge Middle School this school | 1,004 | 17.6% | 83.6% |
| Norwalk Middle School Norwalk | 824 | 18.1% | 79.0% |
| Dallas Center-Grimes Middle School Dallas Center | 586 | 19.3% | 83.9% |
| DC-G Oak View Grimes | 537 | 20.5% | 85.8% |
| Holmes Junior High School Cedar Falls | 628 | 25.2% | 85.3% |
| Jefferson Intermediate Pella | 494 | 16.6% | 81.2% |
Matched among Iowa middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Prairie Ridge Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 83.6% | #39 of 224 | #3 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 82.1% | #60 of 224 ▲ 14 | #3 of 21 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 84.9% | #50 of 224 ▼ 14 | #4 of 21 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,004 | #10 of 246 | #3 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.9:1 | #114 of 180 | #9 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 33.2% | #90 of 180 | #19 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 17.6% | #220 of 237 | #19 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +11.2% | #23 of 61 | #3 of 6 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
1,004
-17 (-2%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
was 16.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,004 | 67.4 | 14.9:1 | 18% (177) |
| 2023-24 | 1,008 | 67.9 | 14.8:1 | 13% (129) |
| 2022-23 | 1,025 | 63.8 | 16.1:1 | 16% (167) |
| 2020-21 | 1,021 | 62 | 16.5:1 | 10% (105) |
| 2017-18 | 903 | 53.9 | 16.8:1 | 13% (119) |
| 2015-16 | 813 | 50 | 16.3:1 | 11% (87) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Prairie Ridge Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 11% (903 to 1,004); teachers up 25% (53.9 to 67.4).
About Prairie Ridge Middle School
Prairie Ridge Middle School is the name of a large middle school in Ankeny, Iowa. The latest federal count shows 1,004 students in grades 6 through 7. Against the 400-student average for middle schools in Iowa, enrollment here is 151% higher.
District-wide, Ankeny Comm School District has 18 schools and 12,746 students.
Most students at Prairie Ridge Middle School are White: 81% of enrollment. The remaining students are 8% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 4% Black. The chance that two students picked at random at Prairie Ridge Middle School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 33%.
Prairie Ridge Middle School's 67.4 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 14.9:1. Middle schools in Iowa have a similar average ratio of 15.2:1. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 18%. The gap from the 49% average for public schools in Polk County is 31 points.
allk12 grades Prairie Ridge Middle School a B+. The grade compares the school only with Iowa public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Prairie Ridge Middle School is +0.4 points: 83.6% actual, 83.1% predicted.
Among Polk County residents, median household income is about $83,576, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 40%, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Prairie Ridge Middle School is one of 137 public schools in Polk County, which together enroll about 77,436 students.
The school nearest to Prairie Ridge Middle School is Northwest Elementary School, at a distance of about 0.5 miles. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Prairie Ridge Middle School ranks 4th in a group of 8 nearby schools.
The school's federal locale classification is Suburb: Large.
Enrollment has been fairly stable: 1,021 in 2020-21 and 1,004 in 2024-25. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 16.5:1 to 14.9:1.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Prairie Ridge Middle School. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Polk County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
503,175
Census ACS
Median income
$83,576
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
40%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
137
77,436 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Ankeny Comm School District
- Ankeny Centennial High SchoolHigh · 1,470 students
- Ankeny High SchoolHigh · 1,375 students
- Northview Middle SchoolHigh · 1,021 students
- Southview Middle SchoolHigh · 913 students
- Parkview Middle SchoolMiddle · 865 students
- Rock Creek ElementaryElementary · 639 students
Other schools in Ankeny
- Ankeny Centennial High SchoolHigh · 1,470 students
- Ankeny High SchoolHigh · 1,375 students
- Northview Middle SchoolHigh · 1,021 students
- Southview Middle SchoolHigh · 913 students
- Parkview Middle SchoolMiddle · 865 students
- Rock Creek ElementaryElementary · 639 students
Nearby schools
- Northwest Elementary School0.5 mi · 346
- Terrace Learning Center0.5 mi · 361
- Northview Middle School0.6 mi · 1,021
- Parkview Middle School0.6 mi · 865
- Ankeny Centennial High School0.9 mi · 1,470
- Ashland Ridge Elementary1.0 mi · 548
Frequently asked questions
About Prairie Ridge Middle SchoolHow many students attend Prairie Ridge Middle School?
Prairie Ridge Middle School enrolls approximately 1,004 students in grades 06-07.
What grades does Prairie Ridge Middle School serve?
Prairie Ridge Middle School serves grades 06-07.
How many teachers does Prairie Ridge Middle School have?
Prairie Ridge Middle School employs 67 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Prairie Ridge Middle School?
Student demographics at Prairie Ridge Middle School are roughly 81% White, 8% Hispanic, 4% Black, 2% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Prairie Ridge Middle School in?
Prairie Ridge Middle School is part of Ankeny Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.